Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
Okay Guys... I need serious help! |
DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 13:47 ET by Matt Moak
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It has come time to purchase a new computer. However, insufficient funds forbid this from happening. Last night, I had a 13 slide Power Point Presentation ready for class and my PC crashed. Just since I've used it today I've had to restart it 7 times!!!! IExplore keeps screwing up when I type in the adrress bar. It seems that my PC has not the resources to open Outlook anymore (because it must open AOL as well for some unknown reason). Kazaa is now totally out of the question. Please, I don;t have the money for a new PC but am willing to but out some cash to upgrade. I'm all ears as to any tips or tricks that you guys can teach me.
Thanks In Advance,
Matt Moak
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DVA320
Senior Captain, B777-200
E-MAIL
Joined on September 22 2001
Online Double Century Club
Triple Century Club
Midwestern United States
365 legs, 1,242.5 hours
353 legs,
1,216.6 hours online 2 legs,
4.6 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 14:01 ET by Awais Ahsan
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Well Matt, I had problems with my computer it was rather to slow for FS, I installed 512MB of SDR ram, and it works like charm No freezes at all, Though ocasinally it would screw up but that's something that I very saldolm see. Also H/D could really help you if you want, however I have a friend who just installed a 60GB hard drive on a 450MHZ pc, Really not a good thing to do because his computer takes a whole lot of time to boot up. If you have a fast internet connection I reccomend unintalling IE and then reinstalling it. Also make sure to check out the patches at Windows website, Make sure is no bug or anything like that. KAZAA is evil, Because of that I got screwed up really bad and has to completely uninstall windows and reinstall it back again. This is the best I can do for you Matt, I quite frequently look through PC magazines and if I find something interesting I'll let you know. SORRY ABOUT THAT PRESENTATION, I had a 7 page presentation made for the 777 Got completely lost as I had to unistall the windows. Take care..
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DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club
"Col. Panic" Marietta, GA
2,241 legs, 8,967.3 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,899 legs,
7,760.4 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,277 legs, 9,102.2 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 14:04 ET by Luke Kolin
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Sounds like a full reinstall is in order.
Cheers!
Luke
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA947
Senior Captain, B757-200
Joined on November 18 2002
Century Club
Online Century Club
Midwestern United States
139 legs, 373.3 hours
138 legs,
372.2 hours online 11 legs,
30.9 hours event 216 legs, 623.1 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 14:06 ET by Tom Haug
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Without any other information, the first thing I would do is bring it up in SAFE MODE and run CHKDSK/F on my C drive. After that, boot normally and search for any processes that should not be running. Check your hardrive spave availablity. It could be your out of space and cannot support your swap file. You can also check for large unknown files while in SAFE MODE.
Tom Haug - DVA947
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 14:38 ET by Matt Moak
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Luke,
I'm beginning to agree with you. I think that I need to start with a clean slate. A huge pain but it should work out in the end. If I did want to upgrade, do any of you have an suggestions as to brands, sizes, or price? And Awais, Kazaa is going bye-bye as we speak
Matt
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 14:46 ET by Lloyd Arms
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Matt here is one option for you to consider. My partner and I frequently upgrade our systems. We have literally tons of barely used computer parts. Most are AMD based. If this interests you please email me.
ragingbull@zeecon.com
Lloyd
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DVA1235
First Officer, L-1011-100
Joined on May 27 2003
Western United States
27 legs, 57.8 hours
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 15:31 ET by Rodger Hinson
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If you can build your own computer, I'd highly recommend that route, especially since you can do a little at a time if you cannabalize parts from your current computer. If you must have prebuilt, I'd strongly recommend Dell or maybe even Gateway. Avoid HP/Compaq at all costs.
Your problem sounds like a software issue, though. Depending on what operating system you use, there are a few routes you can use to troubleshoot it. If you're using an NT derivative (windows 2000 or XP), use the task manager to find out what exactly is eating all of your CPU. Unfortunately, it sounds like you're running Windows 98, which is far more crash prone than 2000 or XP, and makes it harder to kill individual processes. You may want to search Google for "PVIEW95" and run it to see if you have anything weird running. If you don't recognize a process listed, search Google for it and find out exactly what it is.
You may also be due for a good registry cleaning. A great tool for that is Iolo's System Mechanic, and you can get a 30 day free trial at http://www.iolo.com/sm/
It helps, believe me. Also, are you running any custom screensavers? Those are notorious for causing system problems - especially memory leaks which can bring a decent system to its knees in an hour or two.
Also, two programs should be part of your arsenal - "Lavasoft Ad-Aware" and "Spybot Search and Destroy". Get those and run them. OFTEN. They will find and remove those pesky ad-serving and spyware programs that not only annoy, but suck up CPU and bandwidth.
Do you have virus protection? If not, get some. Now. Having no money is no excuse. AVG antivirus is *FREE* and you can download it at http://www.grisoft.com and actually does a decent job. Make sure you update it regularly.
Let me know if this helps.
Rodger Hinson
MD-88 Captain
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 15:52 ET by Matt Moak
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I am running Windows Me. It's a Dell Dimension 4100 that is roughly 3 years old. It's never been the fastest but within the lest 2 days or so, something really been eating my resources.
Thanks In Advance,
Matt
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 16:07 ET by Matt Moak
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I am good with Windows and web design but when it comes to hardware I'm a little slow :). Can I use an IDE or external drive to store applications and call them from Windows. For example: I would move all of my FS stuff, Documents, MS Office XP et al to the new 120 GB drive. Is this possible? Are all drives compatible with all PC's/brands? If this is possible, $150 is NOTHING :). But my main concern is this: Can I call things from this drive the same way that I call things from my C:\ drive? Are external drives slower than internal?
Thanks In Advance,
Matt
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 16:27 ET by Lloyd Arms
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I use a 200 GB External for backups. WindowsXP has no problems with it.
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 16:40 ET by Matt Moak
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But can I install and call programs from an IDE or external drive?
Matt
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 16:48 ET by Lloyd Arms
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IDE would be internal Matt, Yes you can call programs from an external drive however depending on the program it might/might not work well. I've never tried calling a program from an external drive.
Lloyd
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 17:15 ET by Matt Moak
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Would you recommend just upgrading the memory internally then and not adding a drive? Although, shouldn't it work just the same as my C:\ drive.
Matt
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 17:28 ET by Lloyd Arms
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The addition of more or faster memory always improves system performance. As far as the external drive it depends on what type interface it uses with the computer. The one I use is 1394 and I can't see any depreciation in moving files either direction.
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DVA1279
First Officer, MD-88
Joined on July 27 2003
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Southeastern United States
59 legs, 118.6 hours
57 legs,
115.5 hours online
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 20:02 ET by Ceasar Banks
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IEEE 1394 (iLink on SONYs) is what Mac People call "Firewire". It's a very fast interface for external drives (used for video editing). Applications should run fine from an external drive if the App Installer was pointed to the drive during install (D:\FS2002). You should virus scan your machine; after re-installing IE, use the "Tools" menu to log to Windows Update and install security and performance patches. When you download and install lots of stuff (FS add-ons) and create and delete lots of files (web design), your files wil become fragmented (your drirve works longer finding pieces of files all over the disk) even the paging file will fragment. Choose a time when you can leave it alone for a while. Click "Accessories....System Tools...Disk Defragmenter" and defrag the drive(you can click analyze to see the degree of fragmentation). After the first pass, look @ the report. There will be some files that cant be defragged, if you don't need them delete them and run it again to get as low a percentage as you can ( I found TWO 600+MB files I had forgotten about!). If the paging file is fragmented, you'll have to disable it; make a defrag pass and re-enable it. Another "System Tool" is disk cleanup. It will compress old, seldom used files, get rid of "Temp Internet files" and those temp files that installers leave on your drive. It gives you a chance to choose what you want to delete. Hope you get it all back!
P.S.
If you do re-install... don't re-install ME.... get XP
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 25 2003 21:51 ET by Lloyd Arms
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I agree on installing XP, I've run XP Pro since the first beta version was introduced. Actually 98 SE is better and far more stable then ME. ME has got to be Microsofts' worst OS ever in my opinion. As far as defrag goes I myself choose Nortons system works. Defrag in windows is a licensed version of norton which is greatly watered down. Symantec has licensed several utilities to MS over the years. If you choose to go with XP choose Pro over Home. You get quite a few more utilities with Pro that do not come with the Home version.
Good luck
Lloyd Arms
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DVA1322
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on September 10 2003
Double Century Club
Fairbanks, AK USA
220 legs, 544.2 hours
30 legs,
59.3 hours online 1 legs,
2.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 26 2003 06:58 ET by Mark Mestre
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Matt,
Sounds like you've got lots of answers to choose from. I will make a recommendation also......
The first thing I'd do is to reformat your hard drive and start over. DO NOT reinstall windows on top of itself!! I saw that as a recommendation, and while it's quicker, you must erase everything first. Second after reformatting the drive, everything should work just fine, if not then you might be ready for a new system. Something to keep in mind with a new system is the obvious...processor speed and ram of course, and then the video memory. What most people seem to look over though is the cache memory on the chip and whether or not the video is shared. You of course do not want any shared memory system, if you're looking for performance with FS. If you need help reformatting, just email me,
Mark Mestre
DVA 1322
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DVA057
Senior Captain, B777-200
COMM
Joined on June 02 2002
Events Century Club
Six Century Club
Online Quintuple Century Club
Everett 500 Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"We Are ... Penn State!" Atlanta, GA USA
672 legs, 1,338.4 hours
531 legs,
1,076.4 hours online 392 legs,
786.1 hours ACARS 190 legs,
406.3 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 26 2003 10:57 ET by Terry Eshenour
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You probably have too many inputs already, but my thought would be check your C:\ for amount of free space. If you are close to maxing it out, buy a second drive. Drives are cheap CompUSA is/was running an internet special on Maxtor 60 gig for $59. Install the new drive, move your data flies, Outlook Express or Outlook Backup, Favorites to the new drive and of course Flight Sim. Check me on this, but someone advised that Flite Sim is one of the few applications that can be transferred. Most applications require reinstalling to set the registry correctly.
Next reformat the c:\ drive and install WIN XP as a clean install. Reinstall your programs on C:\. Let the data on D:\.
Depending upon your needs, you might want to consider partions on the 60 gig drive putting different data in each. I use a second drive for data an image copy of the C:\ drive. I use Drive2Drive to make the image copy. This way if my c:\ goes belly up I can still start from my d:\ drive after disconnecting the c:\
Sorry probably babbled on too much.
Terry EshenourSenior Captain, B777-200
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
September 26 2003 12:12 ET by Matt Moak
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Terry, you weren't babbling... I need the help THANKS! I'm going to go for a new drive but please confirm this: I CAN USE A NEW DRIVE EXACTLY AS I DO MY C:\ DRIVE NOW!?!?! And will windows carry over there or do I need to reinstall? Should I just slurge for a 120 G and replace my C:\ drive? I wouldn't mand upgrading to XP while I was at it. Probably will order these things Monday morning and work on getting a 'new' PC next weekend.
Thanks for the help,
Matt
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
September 26 2003 12:15 ET by Matt Moak
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Oh and BTW I'm running Windows ME on a Dell Dimension 4100 with an Intel Pentium III Processor and 5 (THAT'S RIGHT...... 5!!!!!). I am really thinking about just getting a 120 G Hard drive for $130 and installing XP.
Matt
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
September 26 2003 12:23 ET by Matt Moak
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Like I said, I'm ignorant when it comes to hardware.. is this a good deal/value, or are they ripping me off. I'm running 5G's right now, and 120 seems afully appealing. Reinstalling all of it wouldn't be so bad.
Matt
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DVA803
Senior Captain, CRJ-200
E-MAIL
Joined on August 22 2002
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
Midwestern United States
210 legs, 339.3 hours
199 legs,
324.4 hours online 2 legs,
4.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
September 26 2003 12:25 ET by Matt Moak
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http://www.4allmemory.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=upgrades.details&product_id=516
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DVA057
Senior Captain, B777-200
COMM
Joined on June 02 2002
Events Century Club
Six Century Club
Online Quintuple Century Club
Everett 500 Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"We Are ... Penn State!" Atlanta, GA USA
672 legs, 1,338.4 hours
531 legs,
1,076.4 hours online 392 legs,
786.1 hours ACARS 190 legs,
406.3 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 26 2003 15:20 ET by Terry Eshenour
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I would suggest buying a second drive as large as you can afford and also need. If you will use only 10% of a 120 gig drive, then that probably isn't effective use of your funds. Now if you do a lot of graphics work, digital pictures, share MP3 files then the 120 gig drive may be the way to go. Otherwise, save your money by buying a 60 gig drive. Use the money you save to buy partion imaging application like Drive2Drive ($25 online at http://www.fssdev.com/) or Ghost or Imaging.
Maybe best to give you a real world working example.
I have one system a modest Gateway used for my business that is configured with two physical internal drives, 10 gig and 60 gig. The 10 gig is my c:\ boot drive. It has the operating system and application files. My second drive has 4 partitions of 20 gig each. d:\ is a mirror of my c:\ drive (I periodically copy c:\ to d:\ in case of a physical drive failure of c:\ I can recover quickly). e:\ is for data and downloads including of course flight sim Plus, I also have serveral flight sim applications running here like ServInfo and Flight Tracker. f:\ is for digital photos and graphic files g:\ is for my website
My 60 gig drive is backed up to CD-RW.
The applications on the 60 gig work perfectly. I do understand that some applications require being located on the "boot" drive to function correctly. Unsure which ones though.
As for flight sim, I have a second PC that only has flight sim applications on it. Over the years I learned to not mix business applications with flight sim. While compatible, a system crash caused by flight sim can take out the business. Since my business pays the bills, not a wise thing to have happen.
Partioning is not a requirement instead it is an approach to data organization and back up. I am not a technical guru but there are those that claim with partions the system operates more efficiently than when putting everything in one "bucket."
I would still advise that you do a clean install of XP. Do this after you install the second drive. You can transfer your current drive contents to a partion on the new drive before you wipe it clean. Then if you need data or configuration settings it is still available on the new drive. When you are statisfied that the new install is working then you can clean it off.
If you have specific questions, email me at terryesh@mindspring.com
Again, I am not a technical trained individual. I am just a user that has learned a few things along the way. There are many ways to approach system design. Mine works for me and may not for you or others.
Terry EshenourSenior Captain, B777-200
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DVA057
Senior Captain, B777-200
COMM
Joined on June 02 2002
Events Century Club
Six Century Club
Online Quintuple Century Club
Everett 500 Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"We Are ... Penn State!" Atlanta, GA USA
672 legs, 1,338.4 hours
531 legs,
1,076.4 hours online 392 legs,
786.1 hours ACARS 190 legs,
406.3 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
September 26 2003 17:04 ET by Terry Eshenour
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http://www.pricewatch.com/
Terry EshenourSenior Captain, B777-200
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